At our current rate of consumption, we're driving vanilla prices sky-high. The price for a kilo of the brown stuff has jumped from $25 to $40 in a single day, which means your summer ice creams might be an even more expensive treat than usual.

Virtually all of the world's vanilla supplies are grown in Madagascar, Mexico and India. But in the last year, Mexico's yield has dropped by a staggering 90 per cent, reports Management Today. In fact, India's yields are struggling too, leaving Madagascar as pretty much the sole source.

In turn, that's seen 40 per cent of the world's current stock of vanilla—around 1,000 tonnes—shipped out of Madagascar recently, and as a result the markets have gone crazy. After six years hovering at around $25 per kilo, the price has jumped to $40 in single day.

And if all that doesn't sound too serious, think on this: vanilla is used in medicines, perfumes and all kinds of food production, so the rise in prices will soon have a knock-on effect for all of us. Most important, though, is what it could do to the price of ice cream. As Management Today suggests:

"Analysts reckon that the price of a scoop of vanilla ice cream will go up by 10 per cent to help manufacturers preserve margins."